’Tis the Season to Find Your Favorite Bankruptcy Excerpts

The holiday season is upon us, and many of our readers will soon be taking part in that time-honored holiday tradition of doing anything to avoid spending time with their in-laws. In need of a fun diversion that will look like you are busy doing work? We’ve got you covered. The Weil Bankruptcy Blog’s annual March Madness competition is returning this March, and in this year’s competition we set out to discover the all-time greatest excerpt from a bankruptcy-related decision. (We have a particular fondness for quotes that are taken out of context). Bankruptcy issues tend to bring out judges’ inner Shakespeare/Bob Dylan/Lenny Bruce, so take some time over the holidays to dig up those bankruptcy-related excerpts from published decisions that you found particularly funny, witty, or poetic.

Shortly after the New Year we will put out our formal call for nominations for our March Madness “Best Excerpt” Competition, but feel free to send your favorite zingers, extended puns, and jokes from bankruptcy opinions even before we launch the competition.

To get you in the both the holiday and bankruptcy gem-finding mood, we would like to share the holiday-themed musings of Judge Cristol of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida. In In re E.S. Rankest L.C. Judge Cristol simply could have said that under the excusable neglect standard established by the United States Supreme Court in Pioneer Investment Services Co. v. Brunswick Associates Limited Partnership, a late filed proof of claim would be allowed. Instead, he chose to spread holiday cheer with a claim-based poem. (Note that this isn’t the first time an adaptation of this particular holiday poem has graced the pages of this Blog):

’Twas the weekend before Christmas,
All minds were on the season;
’Twas the last day to file a claim,
And that was the reason.
That Hutton told Thompson
To file it today,
And she set out to do so
In the ordinary way.
Ms. Thompson put the claim
In the outgoing box;
There is no dispute
That box has no locks.
At the end of the day,
The claim was not there;
It simply had vanished,
Perhaps into thin air.
Attorney Hutton went to Court
Believing it was filed;
As he gave opposing counsel copies,
He smiled.
But filed it was not,
In the Court ’twas not there;
Yes, indeed, it had vanished, Perhaps into thin air.
Did the courier take it,
Or some other staff member?
Oh, where did it go
On that day in December?
Learning where it went Was not a cinch,
But the Court finally determined: It was stolen by the Grinch.
All the testimony showed
Excusable neglect,
So the claim is deemed timely,
That’s Pioneer’s effect.
If that’s not enough,
There is Rule 5005(c),
In the interest of justice,
Let the claim be.
In further remarks on the record
To be made by the Court,
An attempt will be made
To give the ruling support.
The motion is granted. That’s all for today. Go ye and try
To move this case on its way.